Elite Victoria Memorial

The Victoria Memorial was built to commemorate the peak of the British Empire in India. The Victoria Memorial, conceived by Lord Curzon, represents the architectural climax of Kolkata city. Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy specified its classical style but the actual plan of Victoria Memorial was laid down by the well-known architect, Sir William Emerson.

The Victoria Memorial blends the best of the British and Mughal architecture. The Victoria Memorial hall was built with white Makrana marbles. The Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone of Victoria Memorial in 1906 and it was inaugurated in 1921 in memory of Queen Victoria. The Victoria Memorial is 338 by 228 feet and a height of 184 feet. Today the Victoria Memorial Hall is a museum having an assortment of Victoria memorabilia, British Raj paintings and other displays. As night descends on Calcutta, the Victoria Memorial Hall is illuminated, giving it a fairy tale look.

It is interesting to note that the Victoria Memorial was built without British government funds. The money required for the construction of the stately building, surrounded by beautiful gardens over 64 acres and costing more than 10 million was contributed by British Indian states and individuals who wanted favours with the British government. At the top of the Victoria Memorial is a sixteen foot tall bronze statue of victory, mounted on ball bearings. It rotates with wind. At present the Victoria Memorial has notable collection of weapons, sculptors, paintings, maps, coins, stamps, artefacts’, textiles etc. The Royal gallery in Victoria Memorial has portraits of the Queen and Prince Albert. There are numerous paintings, illustrating events from Victoria's life.

Another remarkable peace in Victoria Memorial is a painting by the Russian artist Vasseli Verestchagin, portraying the state entry of the Prince of Wales in Jaipur in the year 1876. In the post independence period a new addition was made to the Victoria Memorial. It was the addition of the National leaders' gallery with the portraits and relics of the freedom fighters.
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From Secunderabad, the 'architect' of India

With heavy heart 3D Power pays condolences to India's greatest proponent of modern architecture - that's what best describes Charles Correa who breathed his last following a brief illness at his Mumbai residence late on 16 June 2015. He was 84.

With the death of Charles Correa, India has lost one of the greatest contemporary architects. He was more than an architect. He invested his legacy in great buildings and projects such as Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Gujarat; Navi Mumbai, the satellite city across Mumbai’s harbour; and Kala Academy, Goa. Correa penned articles on architecture and urbanisation, and was often critical about contemporary urban planning in the country. It's time to look at some of his timeless masterpieces to refresh our memories.

As news of Correa's demise went public, architects the world over joined in to mourn the death of a genius who, incidentally, was born in Secunderabad in 1930.Though soon thereafter, he moved to erstwhile Bombay, Correa's connection with the City of Pearls continued and lasted till until recently. On his final trip in 2008, Correa's hosts in the city recount, he visited IT offices, heritage sites and finally made a brief stopover at his father's grave in Secunderabad - a place he happened to discover on that last journey.

In the years in between, the Padma Shri awardee created magic both at home and abroad with futuristic concepts and designs. As an ardent crusader of the open-to-sky style, Correa consistently incorporated courtyards into his projects apart from paying added attention to landscaping.

His pieces of brilliance dot cities such as Ahmedabad, which houses the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and Hyderabad. In fact, the Kanchanjunga Apartment in Mumbai - a first of its kind - is hailed as the beginning of a new chapter in the designing of modern residential towers. It was conceptualized way back in the 1980s by Correa, also known as the curator of Navi Mumbai.

On foreign shores too, where the India-born maestro went to study - first at the University of Michigan and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -Correa left his distinct mark. The Ismaili Centre in Toronto and the Champalimaud Foundation Centre in Lisbon, counted among his last few works, are just a few of them.

Back in Hyderabad, the nuances of the great architect are visible both at the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) building near Moula Ali and Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Banking & Finance office in Gachibowli. While the former was designed by Correa in the early 1970s, the latter came roughly two decades later.

"It (ECIL) is a landmark project that first saw the use of `pergola' (a sun shading concept), which helped in reducing the direct impact of the sun on the glass of the building," said city architect and academician, Yeshwant Ramamurthy, also a former student of Correa's at the JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai.

"Even today, we have students from city colleges coming to visit our premises to study Correa's style.He still offers tremendous inspiration to aspiring architects," said Pradeep Kumar, assistant general manager, ECIL. He added: "What sets the administrative building here apart from other structures is the use of the natural terrain of the ground that the acclaimed architect so carefully preserved."